The present invention relates to an apparatus capable of easily shooting an invisible image latent on an object while observing the image, and a method for using the same.
As computer-aided editing and publishing for newspapers and magazines such as desktop publishing (DTP) are widespread, articles and photographs printed on newspapers and magazines are stored in a server as digitized original content. For a fee such content is available over the INTERNET and may be downloaded to personal computers (PCs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), special-purpose apparatuses, and mobile phones and the like. However, paper as medium is still popular with consumers as it provides a level of access and convenience familiar to many users. Thus, content publishers are desirous of utilizing there unutilized or under utilized digital content in conjunction with print media.
For example, it has become common to use a camera provided in a mobile phone to read a QR code (Quick Response code consisting of a two-dimensional matrix) printed on an advertisement or a magazine and providing access to a website. For example, a service that allows listening to sample music from newspapers and magazines is in use.
A QR code printed on a newspaper or a magazine may detract from the pictorial appearance of a printed publication. For this reason, an electronic scrapping system has been developed. This system uses an invisible bar code technique providing invisibility under the normal ambient light or environmental light alone, and allows an invisible QR code to be freely placed anywhere on or within a printed publication or item.
A Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2006-229894 (published on Aug. 31, 2006) proposes an “electronic scrapping system” invented as a method for combining a printed material of a physical medium such as paper, plastic, or cloth and digital content. According to the principle of this technique, stealth ink or invisible ink that appears transparent to the naked eye is used on a conventional or unconventional printed material. With this ink, content-related information is additionally printed as a two-dimensional (2D) bar code invisible in its normal state, so that the information can usually be kept latent (hidden) on the surface of the printed material.
The presence of this information can be revealed according to the characteristic of the information that it “luminesces” or “reacts” with to fluoresce or absorb light by the use of a digital camera-equipped mobile phone or the like that supports the electronic scrapping system. The use of ultraviolet or infrared light may also be utilized. This information and related information are presented and used along with normal visible images. Based on the proposed method, various services can be provided by associating this information with original digital content in a server.
With this method, invisible information can be embedded anywhere such as in text, photographs, and illustrations without worrying about the appearance and layout of the visible information or visible images on a printed material. This enables the creation of hyperlinking from any item and allows for the creation of a hybrid publications that provide additional value to printed material.
For a conventional QR code reader, a digital camera-equipped mobile phone is generally used. A QR code is indirectly displayed on a screen of a mobile phone (commonly displayed on a liquid crystal display) to shoot its image, which is then decoded with QR code reader software included in the mobile phone. Such a function is included as standard in most camera-equipped mobile phones because of their ability to directly connect to the Internet.
However, it is necessary to frame and focus the image containing the latent image. Thus, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention a display is utilized (most mobile telephones include a display). Tripods or related hardware and software based stabilization and framing techniques may also be utilized.
In addition, especially when the object is a printed material with a wide area such as a newspaper, the need of indirectly observing the display on the screen makes it difficult to locate and resolve wide areas of information containing a latent image (newspapers and the like.
On the other hand, if it is desired that information that could be obtained with a mobile phone be used in a personal computer (PC), a USB camera or the like is generally used. A QR code on printed material may be imaged (shot) with a USB camera held over the QR code, and processed with QR code reader software installed in the PC. Additionally, with a conventional USB camera, the distance and angle between the camera and the object vary with the way the user holds the USB camera. To prevent shooting a distorted or out-of-focus image (where minimal depth of field exists), it is necessary to set a camera lens perpendicular to the plane of the object while framing and focusing the image. Co-owned published unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-229894 (published on Aug. 31, 2006) is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. It is aimed to provide a tool that can be affordably offered to and easily used by even users without a mobile phone and users unfamiliar with operation of a mobile phone.